January 2000 marked the tenth anniversary of ACE’s formation. Ten years ago a group came together to challenge the location of a giant garbage incinerator in Alto. That plan had the backing of state officials in the Environmental Protection Division as well as the Department of Community Affairs, county elected officials, plus the head of the Georgia Mountains Regional Development Center - a formidable group. Facing them were the citizens of four counties, Banks, Habersham, Hall and White, armed only with knowledge gathered by other volunteer groups around the country.
In the final meeting at the Georgia Mountains Center, 220 people faced the officials, many speaking about the downside of incinerators such as dioxin, vaporized metals including mercury, arsenic and cadmium, the toxic ash that would go to the local landfill where rains could eventually carry the toxins into ground water.
That was the last time officials mentioned the garbage incinerator. But fourteen months later came an attempt to place a medical waste incinerator near downtown Gainesville. The hearing was called for Good Friday night. Once again, people turned out to say NO despite the date. And again they won.
Since then ACE has won some and lost some. We tried to keep an asphalt plant from emitting smelly, chemical-laden smoke a few hun- dred yards upwind of the elementary school in Homer. Our court appeal did keep them from operating for a time while 441 was being four-laned, but we lost in the courts. Now that the Homer Bypass is about to start construction that plant may come to life again. One good byproduct of the campaign is that Homer is about to adopt zoning, so that no new industry can threaten the children.
We joined with the Jackson County group to keep Hartsfield Airport extension from being built near Jefferson, ending with a caravan and a picket line in front of the Atlanta Regional Commission meeting, and won that one too.
Then there are the campaigns that keep on going, like the Plasma Torch incinerator and the Appalachian Scenic Parkway.
One we just “discovered” is the Oconee nuclear utility plant only 20 air miles from Toccoa, Tallulah Falls, Lakemont and Clayton, 27 from Clarkesville, 30 from Cornelia, under 40 from Alto.
The plant in Walhalla SC is in process of being relicensed although it is only 25 years old and could go on for another 15 years. But with no new nuclear plants being built, and several old ones already closed down due to problems, the industry would like to ensure its continuation. Aging plants are subject to wear and tear from vibration, heat and corrosion that could lead to cracks and leaks. The specter of Three Mile Island hangs over the whole industry.
Oconee’s record is not spotless, with contaminated cooling water leaking into Lake Keowee. And the nuclear waste keeps piling up. S.1287, the bill that would have shipped radioactive waste all the way to Nevada, passed the Senate but without the votes that could override the President’s promised veto. The House bill, HR 45, may or may not come to a vote. So the radioactive waste could stay in storage where it is, or end up at the Savannah River Plant near Augusta, either to be reprocessed into reactor fuel or safely immobilized in glass or ceramic. But how the waste would travel to that Plant is not yet known.
For three years the state legislature has turned down a bill to train local civil defense staffs on how to handle radioactive emergencies. This situation needs attention.
